


i just wanna hit the ground, and smash into you

by amazonia



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Confessions, Crushes, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Identity, Superheroes, guys being dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 08:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13566591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amazonia/pseuds/amazonia
Summary: in which bart is a dork with a crush on the hero, blue beetle, and goes through scary encounters just to see him. but jaime is worried for his safety.





	i just wanna hit the ground, and smash into you

**Author's Note:**

> bruh this is so much longer than i thought. but!! i really enjoyed writing this! i'm sorry if bart seems ooc, btw.
> 
> criticism is appreciated! :)

“Cass, I’ve had some pretty dumb ideas -”

“Yup.”

“But this takes the cake.” Bart dryly commented as walked uphill backward, folding his arms towards his blonde friend. Behind him silently stood the boardwalk amusement park, ‘Wonder World’. The wind blew over the dimly-lit park grounds, normally full of people, that now held a couple of laughing teenagers waving a bottle around.

Bart frowned upon recognizing the pair of unfriendly classmates, Jason - a charming soccer player - and Hannah - a snobby aspiring artist. The redhead turned back to Cassie, who was now standing beside him at the top of the hill. “Jeez, it’s colder than I thought,” she mumbled to herself as she slowly stepped downhill. “I didn’t know you were friends with these guys. They’re not the nicest.” Bart called out, mimicking her actions and saw her dim silhouette shrug.

“I’m friends with Hannah. Besides, I didn’t know you had beef with the popular kids,” Cassie replied, looking back at Bart and saw him press his lips into a tight line. “I-I don’t…” he began but Cassie just waved him off. “Then we’re fine. C’mon, let loose a bit.” she dismissed him and started skipping down the hill before running towards her peers.

It’s not that I have a problem with them, Bart thought to himself and shoved his cold hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. It’s that Jaime has a problem with them. Although he wasn’t too well-known, Bart had seen his friend’s struggle with some of the popular kids. He was teased, threatened and it irritated Bart to no-end - yet here he was, about to watch his friend get drunk with a couple of them in an abandoned amusement park. I’m a hypocrite.

“Aye Speedy!” He heard Jason call as he approached the others sitting on a bench close to the entrance. Hannah and Cassie were giggling as they took long sips out of Blue solo cups while Jason occasionally took swigs from the bottle. “Want a go, Allen?” he offered, handing Bart a cup but he held up his hands and shook his head.

“Nu-uh, I wanna get on the right bus home,” he replied but Jason just snorted and took another swig. “Your loss.” Bart rolled his eyes and leaned against a booth beside the bench, his hands fiddled with some spare change in his pockets. God, why am I here? He pondered. He could’ve been at home, playing another round of Destiny with Jaime, or making fun of Wally over the phone.

Bart watched Hannah crawl into Jason’s lap and laugh at some random comment he made while Cassie pried the bottle from his hands while he was distracted and took a long sip. “Cass, maybe you should slow down,” Bart suggested, pushing himself off the wall of the game booth and started pulling the bottle away from his friend. Cassie just cradled the bottle and stuck out her tongue. “Maybe you should speed up!”  
The others laughed at Cassie’s remark before re-occupying themselves with...each other and Bart folded his arms, monitoring Cassie’s alcohol intake. That cider’s probably not that good. This went on for about half an hour - Hannah and Jason making out and Bart prevent Cassie from choking on the cider - before Bart finally took the bottle from Cassie and grabbed her wrist before yelling, “We’re going home!”

“Whaat?” Hannah whined, sliding herself off of Jason’s lap and staggered her way towards the redhead with her hands on her hips. “Why are you leaving, huh? I-Is it your bedtime?” she teased and Jason burst out laughing from the bench, leaning over the handle like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “No, but A, it’s freezing; B, it’s boring and C, Cass is gonna screw herself up if she keeps drinking at this rate.” Bart listened off, but Cassie ripped her wrist out of Bart’s grasp and said, “Chill out, dude,”

Bart stared at the other teenagers probably ready to make fun of him and started walking back towards the entrance. “Pussy!” Jason called out and Bart flipped him off, turning around to double the gesture. He didn’t watch behind him and bumped into something large - much larger than him. Bart whipped around and saw a tall man with a beanie covering his eyes and wearing a vest with multiple objects sticking out the pockets - many of them were sharp.

“Now that’s not very polite, is it?” the man scolded with a heavy Brooklyn accent and a sly grin on his face. Bart quickly walked backward from him only to bump into another man, this one’s face was covered by a ski mask and wore an oversized flannel. “You kids are on our turf.” his husky voice stated, harshly spitting in front of Bart’s sneakers.

Bart raised his hands in defense and replied, “W-we were just l-l-leaving,” but this prompted Ski Mask to chuckle. “Don’t you kids know? After hours, we run the place,” he said and gave a slight nod to Beanie, who sauntered over Bart and grabbed him by the collar before roughly shoving him against a nearby game booth. “And we fucking hate kids.” Beanie finished with a dark chuckle.

As his hands scratched at Beanie’s wrist, he noticed there were at least 6 other guys slowly closing in on his classmates. Cassie got into a fighting stance and screamed, “LEAVE HIM ALONE” before body-checking Beanie, but only she was affected and collided with another thug who pinned her arms behind her back.

Beanie’s hand was tight against Bart’s neck and he started kicking the air in desperate means of retaliation. Cold tears started to stream down the sides of his face as he gasped for air. “Back off, bozos,” a sudden voice yelled from above Bart and before he could look around, Beanie was blasted to the ground. Bart slid down towards the ground and gently rubbed his neck as he deeply inhaled.

As he turned, he saw a blue figure flying in between the goons, knocking them over as if they were bowling pins. Cassie ran over to Bart and hugged, rambling apologizes into his ear - but Bart was hypnotized by this flying blue hero.

“I fucking hate bugs,” Ski Mask retorted before pulling out a handgun and fired rounds in the blue figure’s direction. The figure quickly dodged the fire and pointed a fist at Ski Mask’s direction. Bart’s jaw dropped as the blue figure’s hand morphed into a large, high-tech blaster that shot beams at Ski Mask, knocking him into a light post and silencing him.

The gun shifted back into a fist and the figure turned to Bart - who was being fussed over by Cassie - and slowly flew his way over. As he came underneath the lights, he realized the figure was a costumed hero! “Are you okay?” the hero asked Bart, extending his hand. The redhead hesitantly took it and was slowly pulled to his feet. “You’re all going home, right?” he instructed the teenagers, who simultaneously nodded in shock.

“Wait…a-are you...a beetle?” Bart asked in exhaustion, taking in the blue hero’s costume. The hero chuckled and replied, “I’m Blue Beetle. And you are?” Bart pointed at himself and opened his mouth, but no words found their way out. He felt Cassie hold his sides and steer him in the direction of the entrance where Hannah and Jason were already on their way home. “Bart, c’mon.” Cassie urged him and Bart swore he saw the costumed hero tense up at his name.

“What, you like it?” he teased the hero, turning back to face him. But before he could see Blue Beetle’s reaction, he started seeing large black spots around him. Bart closed his eyes and started falling to the ground.

 

 

When Bart opened his eyes, he was covered by messy dinosaurs blankets. He slowly sat up and upon quick examination, he realized he was in his own bedroom and let out a sigh of relief. Bart kicked off the covers and rolled over to his bedside table to unplug his phone and call Cassie.

“Hello?”

“Cass? What happened at the Boardwalk last night? W-was it a dream? Did I get drunk?”

“Slow down, dude, my head’s still pounding. We got drunk - well not you, and I’m sorta jealous. Anyways, this hero - Blue Beetle I think his name was - came and saved us from thugs.”

“I-I think I remember that. But how’d I get home, I-I-I-I don’t remember taking - “

“You passed out and Blue Beetle flew us home. How awesome is that? But this might not be 100% true, I was kinda hammered.”

“You were pretty hammered. Thanks, Cass.”

“I’m sorry for blowing you off - it totally wasn’t worth it. The three of us should’ve just gone to a movie.”

“Hm, we still can tonight. What’s playing?”

“I wouldn’t know - I’m grounded.”

“Ouch. Sorry.”

“It’s fine I deserved it - but Jaime might be free.”

 

 

“A-and he swooped down from the sky and took out the guys like blam! Blam!” Bart recalled to his friend Jaime, whose eyes widened at the story as the pair sauntered down the bustling hallway filled with students shoving the pair from left to right. It was the end of the day on Friday and he was full of exhilaration, partially because of last night’s events and mostly because of the new action movie they were gonna see.

Jaime just chuckled at Bart’s recap of last night’s events. “Is this before or after you passed out?” he asked innocently but Bart’s cheeks turned a light shade of red and looked at the floor. Jaime pulled his shorter friend out of the way of his bustling classmates, guiding him to his locker and offered a smile before apologizing, “I’m sorry, sorry. Was it that intense?”

The pair stopped in front of a row of lockers and Bart just rubbed the back of his head. “Aw buddy,” Jaime cooed and wrapped his arms around Bart’s neck before giving him a noogie. But his friend was too flustered by the sudden affection to respond. “Whoa, you’re like beet-red, hermano. I’m sorry,” he observed and pulled away.

Bart just shook his head with a smile and twisted the red lock on his locker before easing open the door. “It’s fine, dude. I’m just glad Hannah and Jason haven’t been total dicks about my freak-out,” he replied, swapping out a couple books and shoved binders full of homework into his backpack before slamming the locker shut.

“Well, are you ready to see some action?” Jaime switched the subject and chuckled at Bart’s bright grin. “I was born ready!” he cheered, grabbing Jaime’s arm and racing out of the crowded building before they missed another second.

“I was not born for thiis!” Bart whined as he and Jaime took a glimpse of the ticket line inside the movie theater. “This is hell, dude, let’s go.” He turned around to leave the bustling theater but Jaime stuck his arm out to stop him. “Hey, it’s opening night but we’re here anyway,” he explained to his impatient friend. “How about I wait here and try and get tickets, and you get some drinks from down the street, ‘kay?” he compromised and Bart reluctantly nodded, shuffling towards the exit. Jaime was always good at strategy - no wonder he was a master of dodgeball.

Bart walked with a skip in his step as he crossed between the cars on the street towards the local coffee shop, rummaging through his pocket to pull out his wallet and count the money he didn’t have. The coffee shop had good prices, but Bart was still low on funds and groaned as he found a grand total of $7.53 in his wallet. He glanced up at the menu hanging overhead the counter as he took his place in the much shorter line.

Lemonade or iced coffee… he pondered to himself, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Today’s a good day for iced coffee, I haven’t had it in a while. But I’m craving something sour… he debated his choices while nearing the order counter. Whatever he didn’t pick, he’d give to Jaime - unlike Bart, he was simple.

“EVERYBODY DOWN!” a harsh voice thundered throughout the coffee shop, prompting Bart to whip around and stand face-to-face with a masked man, twice his height with a large semi-automatic in his arms. Bart shakily kneeled to the ground, bum-scooching away from the robber until his back pressed against the counter. “Two attacks back-to-back,” Bart mumbled to himself, running a hand through his red hair. “God, I’m a bad luck charm.”

There were three robbers, two with guns and one with a large cloth sack. The sac-wielder hopped the counter and ripped open the cash register before shoving whatever bills he could into the sac. Bart stared at the gunmen before reaching into his pocket to text Jaime about the situation.

“ _Coffee plce is gettgn robbed help pls_ ” he sent and slipped the phone into his pocket. Bart hugged his knees and took a deep breath to calm himself. It’s fine, Bart. You survived last night, you can survive this he convinced himself as one the gunmen walked past him to yell at a crying customer.

Suddenly, a familiar blue figure crashed through the window and blasted a beam at the gunman who just pasted Bart, pinning him against the wall with what looked like giant staples. “Blue Beetle!” Bart cried when he recognized the costumed hero but stole his attention from the other gunman, began firing at the hero.

Bart tackled Blue Beetle’s legs to avoid the fire and the hero’s left fist morphed into a metal shield to the protect the pair and those nearby from the fire. “Be careful, dude.” Bart scolded and Blue Beetle just chuckled before standing up. His other hand morphed into a blaster and shot at the firing gunman, knocking him out of the store, through the window and pinning him against the brick wall with another pair of giant staples.

Blue Beetle flew off the ground and hovered over the counter of the coffee shop before dropping on top of the robber with the sac. The robber’s face was planted into the cool, tile flooring and the costumed hero knocked him out with a blast to the chest. Many of the customers started filing out of the store as loud sirens were blaring down the street and police cruisers stopped outside.

Before Bart reached the doors, Blue Beetle tugged him back into the store for a second. “Trouble seems to follow you, huh Bart?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips and Bart shuddered as he peered into Beetle’s piercing yellow eyes. “U-unfortunately. But good thing you came.” He replied and the hero nodded. “Thanks, by the way. For watching my back - I’m still a little rusty.” He smiled at the redhead, who dazily nodded and quickly took flight from the store. Whoa.

Bart stumbled out of the store and placed his head in his hands to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight. “Bart!” He heard Jaime’s familiar voice and saw his friend run towards him before wrapping the shorter in an embrace. “Oh my god, are you okay?” But Bart didn’t answer. He just squeezed Jaime’s waist and let out a pent-up sigh.

 

 

Bart strangely couldn’t get Blue Beetle out of his mind. He and Jaime took a raincheck on the movie, and instead returned to Jaime’s house for a movie in - which Bart gladly accepted - but for most of the film in the bathroom, scrolling through as many articles discussing the Blue Beetle as he could before Jaime knocked on the door in concern.

From what he collected, he was a fairly new hero with the ability to morph and use a variety of weapons. His blue ‘suit’ gave him flight and slightly enhanced speed and he mainly worked in the Happy Harbour area.

But Bart wanted to know more. No matter how many Reddit threads or message boards he searched through, he wasn’t satisfied. Bart wasn’t wasn’t interested in his high-tech suit or fancy gadgets - he wanted to know the person underneath it all. He felt strangely attracted to them and wanted to see Blue Beetle more and more.

So, a week later, he stepped into the wrong side of a mugging and interfered with a gang-beating. Couple weeks after that? He threw himself into another robbery. All of this to see the costumed hero was ridiculous - it worked, but it was still insane. Bart assumed he’d get a rush from the danger but as soon as he saw the criminals, he immediately regretted his involvement. But it was always too late to back-out - until Blue Beetle came. Then his pulse raced and his head felt light as it did before.

“I don’t think so, hermano.” Jaime scolded Bart for his idea for his search for Blue Beetle one night in his house. “The first two meetings may have been a coincidence, but don’t be an idiot and throw yourself into danger.” Bart sunk back onto Jaime’s couch and curled up into a ball away from his friend as if he was a punished puppy.

He heard Jaime sigh and ruffle his red hair. “W-what if this doesn’t go to plan, huh? You could yourself and other people in danger.” Jaime replied softly, and Bart bit the inside of his cheek in silent admittance. “I-we can’t lose you, okay?” Bart looked up at Jaime and his heart skipped a beat at his friend’s desperate expression. “Okay, okay, I won’t do anything dumb - on purpose anyway.” he agreed and sat up to face Jaime, reaching out to rub his arm.

Jaime was always Bart’s impulse control, making him second-think silly ideas. He would’ve been an enemy of the popular kids rather than an acquaintance if Jaime wasn’t around to stop him. Sure, his idea to go back to the Boardwalk was stupid, but he was crazy desperate. If Blue Beetle was there, he wouldn’t get touched at all, right? Except that Bart was still shaken up and didn’t want to be alone yet, not for a while. That’s one of the reasons why he wanted to meet with real Blue Beetle - so he could know someone to protect him, to watch his back.

Of course, Jaime and Cassie were there to support him - along with his aunt and uncle and Wally too - but he always felt at distance no matter how hard he tried to immerse himself. While Jaime fell asleep during the movie, Bart sat on the roof of his friend’s house instead, hugging his knees to his chest and staring up at the cloudy night sky.

The moon peeked out from the dark clouds beside it and a cool breeze brushed over Bart, prompting him to cover his face in Jaime’s borrowed hoodie and shivered against the wind. His cheeks burned as he focused on his friend’s scent on the clothing and groaned. “What’s wrong with me?” He mumbled into the hoodie.

“Nothing is - besides the fact that you’re on the roof of a house in chilly November,” a voice Bart missed came from above him. Flying overhead was the person he was thinking about - Blue Beetle themself. “B-Blue, what are you doing here?” Bart stuttered, tugging his face out of Jaime’s hoodie and exposing his red face. “Third time’s the charm. Besides, someone told me you wanted to meet me,” Blue Beetle replied as he took a seat beside Bart on the grooved rooftop. “Something the matter?”

Bart just re-assumed his knee-hugging position and sighed. “A lot of things are the matter, dude.” He turned to face the hero’s piercing yellow eyes, trying to find comfort in them. “I feel like a total outsider even though I’ve lived here for a year and I...I think I have a crush on my best friend,” Bart tucked his face back into the hoodie before feeling Blue’s chilly hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you tell them?” he suggested.

The redhead just scoffed as he felt warmth returning to his face. “Are you kidding? He’d be so freaked out. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship!” Bart exclaimed, turning back to face Blue Beetle. “I-I-I was so paranoid about it...that I think I...might’ve projected my feelings onto you, for a little bit.” He brushed his hand through his hair exasperated. “So much so...I had this crazy plan to get into trouble so you could come and save me again. You just remind me of him...”

Blue Beetle removed his hand from Bart and sighed. “Look -” the hero began but the redhead shook his head in dismissal. “I know, it’s stupid. What are you doing here anyway?” He questioned, prompting the costumed hero to hold Bart’s hand. “Bart, you should be honest about your feelings. Anyone would be lucky to have an Hermano like you,” he advised with a small smile.

Bart nodded in agreement but froze as he processed what the hero just said. “I didn’t want to tell you like this but,” Bart’s attention redirected to Blue Beetle’s words and his jaw dropped at what he saw. The blue suit was being removed as if it was being shed, and behind the piercing yellow eyes apart of the mask were the warm brown ones of a certain person of interest.

Bart slid away from his friend, his face redder than his hair. “J-J-J-J-Jaime?! You’re Blue Beetle?!” He shrieked and Jaime raised a finger to mouth to shush him before gesturing to the open window of his bedroom. When the boys returned inside the house, Bart collapsed on his friend’s bed and covered his face with his borrowed hoodie. “T-t-that means I...UGH!” he stuttered in embarrassment as he recollected their conversation and sat upwards. “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“I was going to, the very first night it happened!” Jaime explained, running a hand through his messy hair. “B-but I was worried about how you might react. Literally, no one knows about it except you now. I-I didn’t want to make it a big deal,” Bart rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “Dude, this is a huge deal! You’re a super-” his words were cut off by Jaime’s hand and was shushed again. “Milagro’s asleep,” he whispered and Bart’s eyes widened before nodding.

Jaime turned his back to Bart and pulled his large t-shirt over his shoulder, revealing a blue stone attached to his skin. It took the shape of a beetle. “One night, I was coming home and I saw this weird...artifact on the ground. As soon as I touched it, I turned into Blue Beetle,” he said before slipping his shirt back on and took a seat on the bed beside Bart. “I hated it at first. The armor would cover me in random moments and whenever I was picked on, I almost formed a blaster. But then I started...practicing with it...a-and here I am.”

The brunette grabbed Bart’s hands and squeezed them shakily. “But you can’t tell anyone. Promise,” he begged and the redhead looked up at his friend. There was the same look of desperation written over his face - and his heart skipped another beat as he nodded. “I swear it.” Jaime grinned and dropped Bart’s hands before lightly elbowing him. “So who’s this friend you’re crushing on?” he asked and the redhead tensed up.

“N-n-nobody,” Bart mumbled, covering his face with the borrowed hoodie again as he slowly backed away from his friend. “C’mon, hermano, spill. You’re keeping my secret, so I gotta hear yours.” Jaime teased and lightly poked the side of Bart’s stomach, prompting him to squirm. Bart fell to his side and slid away until his head hit the headboard of the bed. “It’s...nothing!” he protested.

But Jaime was stubborn and wasn’t giving up. He kept poking Bart’s sides and chuckled at his friend’s wiggling and knelt over him. “Tell me!” he demanded, pulling the hoodie away from Bart’s burning face and locked onto his pleading green eyes. “It’s YOU! I like you, idiot!” the redhead cried and buried his face under Jaime’s pillows.

Jaime sat back from his humiliated friend, feeling his own heart race at the forced confession. He slowly lifted the pillow off of the redhead’s face and couldn’t help the growing smile on his face. “You actually like me?” he confirmed, shuffling so he could sit beside Bart’s curled up body. A slight nod was all it took for Jaime’s heart to pound against his chest. “Sit up,”

Bart lazily followed the instructions, not making eye contact with his friend. Before he could open his mouth to get out of his awkward situation, Jaime’s hands cupped his face and his lips were connected with Bart’s. The redhead felt a warm hand hold his on the bed and his eyes widened at the sudden contact. His mind went blank, but he kissed Jaime back eagerly.

Bart was the first to pull away and pressed his hands against Jaime’s arms. “W-wait, w-why are you-” he questioned and Jaime rolled his eyes before squeezing Bart’s shaking hands. “I like you too, dummy.” He confessed but nervously looked away from Bart’s grinning face. The redhead wrapped his arms around Jaime, pushing him down onto the bed and kissing him again with a large smile on his face.

The two laughed between messy kisses, tightly holding onto each other, nervous one would hear the other’s powerful heartbeat jumping out of his chest. “Oh hey, hey,” Jaime said, pulling away from Bart and reaching for his hand. “Promise you won’t throw yourself into trouble again.” The redhead instantly nodded but froze as he sat on top of Jaime. “Whoa, what’s wrong?” he asked Bart who was groaning and covering his face with his hands.

“I’m making out with a beetle.”


End file.
